Wilson: Thomaston gets best of Lyman again With VIDEO report BY RICK WILSON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

You might think right about now that the Lyman Memorial girls basketball team and coach Jeff Gaucher have about had it with this Thomaston thing.

It's been two straight years of an hour-and-40-minute drive, a raucous home crowd to deal with, and then there are the Bears themselves.

Two straight years of having their season end a long way from home at the hands of the Bears. This time, it was Thomaston, 64-41, on Thursday night in a Class S second-round contest that was similar to the one a year ago.

And the game was much closer than the final score.

At least for three quarters.

Yet Gaucher wouldn't mind doing it again.

"The atmosphere is great here, " he said. "It's fun to come into a packed gym and see kids with school spirit. I don't mind coming here at all and wouldn't mind coming back."

The losing thing he could do

See BEARS, Page 4C

without, however. The No. 3 Bears (21-2), who will host No. 22 Hyde Leadership, an upset winner over Somers on Thursday, laid some heavy-duty defense on the No. 14 Bulldogs (14-10). Combined with a pretty good dose of Maggie Eberhardt (23 points), that was enough for Thomaston, although it wasn't easy.

The Bears had seen Lyman demolish Terryville in the first round with a 3-point barrage. They were prepared. Plus, this was a Thomaston kind of game, one more akin to picking up yardage, three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust-type stuff.

There was a lot of grabbing, pushing, diving, bumping, mauling and a tackle or two. As Bears coach Bob McMahon said, "We slightly outgained them from the line of scrimmage. It was ground and pound."

The only smooth part of the night was scorekeeper Brian Mozelak's referee shirt. Lyman gave as good as it got. But the Bears thrive in this type of atmosphere. Lyman made just one 3-pointer and wasn't able to get off a lot of shots from long range.

Meanwhile, Thomaston found enough offense. And do you want to guess who got it going? The 5-foot-3 All-Stater with No. 22 on her back. With the Bears trailing early, 6-5, Eberhardt drilled a 3-pointer and converted a steal into a basket.

After Abby Hurlbert drained a rainbow three, Eberhart hit a layup. Morgan Sanson, who registered a rugged eight-point, 11-rebound performance, put in an offensive rebound at the buzzer to end the first quarter with the Bears ahead, 19-8.

Lyman would never go away until it was put away in the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs never really recovered either.

"In the state tournament, you know it is going to be a hard, physical game, and we had to focus on defense," said Hurlbert. "Defense makes offense. We knew they had good 3-point shooters, and we were trying to stop them from making them."

The Bears maintained a 10-pont lead, 26-16, but there were times in the third quarter when Lyman cut the deficit to eight points and seemed on the verge of really making a run. But there was that defense and Eberhardt.

With the lead sitting at 34-25 and an uneasy feeling gaining ground, Eberhardt drove for a basket and nailed a 15-footer. After two Lyman baskets brought the margin back below 10 points, 38-29, Eberhardt buried a 3-pointer and a layup to end the quarter and build the lead to 44-29.

Hey, the Bullodgs have seen this before. Eberhardt scored 19 points in last year's game with a big second half.

"In the third quarter, we had some momentum, we were stopping (Thomaston) and making some shots," said Gaucher. "Eberhardt comes down and hits the 3-pointer. She's just a really good player. We were all over her and she's still making shots."

"I was a little tired, but I knew I had to get going," said Eberhardt.

The Bears also may have worn down the Bulldogs, who received a 14-point effort from Chelsea Hussey (10 in the third quarter) but not enough elsewhere.

"It was an extremely physical game, and we only go about six deep," said Gaucher. "Their bumps take us out of our cuts, and we couldn't find any offensive rhythm. With the physicality of it all, we started to wear down.'

Sydney Keith chipped in with 10 points for the Bears while freshman Gabrielle Hurlbert (six points) and Charlie Eberhardt continued to provide quality minutes off of the bench.

Now comes Hyde. The Bears scouted four teams earlier in the week, and Hyde wasn't one of them, but McMahon knows his hands are full.

"Here comes the Shoreline Conference again," said McMahon. "They are battle-tested, that is for sure."

After losing three straight years to Portland, McMahon knows. But the Bears are pretty good themselves in the battle-tested department. A few teams will tell you that; Lyman knows. After two seasons, it knows all too well.

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